Yasam Sasmazer’s Wooden Sculptures Explore Mental Hardship

Yasam Sasmazer, a Turkish artist who works in Berlin, crafts wooden sculptures the deal with psychological hardship and narratives. Series like “Metanoia” take influence from the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung, exploring the journey between mental breakdowns and the evolution that follows. Her use of three-dimensional figures and shadows, both simulated and real, offer an absorbing take on the duality of living.

“With her realistic sculptures, she questions in turn the notions of identity, doppelganger, the self and the other, the individual in his social or natural environment, willingly deconstructing the clichés and cultural structures that surround these ideas,” says Berlin Art Projects. “In her current works she deals with the specific relationship between the mankind and nature focusing on its contradictions and malfunctions, which lead her observations to the themes of invasion, decay, ruins, remembrance and transience of memories.”

Other works by the artist explore our relationship with nature, as well as our own social environment. Sasmazer work has been shown at venues in New York City, California, Berlin, Dubai, London, China, and other spots across the globe. She graduated with an M.A. in sculpture from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in her native Istanbul.